Many worksite operations have relatively complicated logistic systems associated with them. Such worksite operations can include, for instance, construction site operations, forestry operations, and agricultural operations. In some cases, a single manager or organization is in charge of managing and controlling multiple different worksites. For instance, a construction manager may be in charge of controlling the logistics and other aspects of multiple different construction sites at the same time. In addition, a forestry organization or company may be harvesting at multiple different worksites. Further, an agricultural company or farm manager may be in charge of managing and controlling operations at multiple different worksites (such as multiple different fields that are harvesting simultaneously). A manager may attempt to monitor and coordinate the operations of a plurality of different vehicles utilized at each worksite or at multiple different worksites, simultaneously.
One example of an operation that has relatively complicated logistics is a sugarcane production operation. A conventional sugarcane mill may accept harvested sugarcane from multiple different fields surrounding the mill, in order to maintain a constant rate of production through the mill. The distances from the fields to the mill may be, for instance, on the order of 25 kilometers. A representative set of sugarcane harvesting equipment may include, for example, 15 harvesters, 30 tractors, 60 wagons, and 7 highway trucks. A plurality of different sugarcane harvesters (say, for example, 3 harvesters) may be harvesting sugarcane from a single field.
The harvesting process includes cutting the cane at the base, stripping the leaves, cutting the cane stalks into usable “billets”, and depositing the billets into a tractor-drawn billet wagon that travels alongside the harvester. When the billet wagon reaches a desired capacity, the harvester may stop the harvesting process to allow the full billet wagon to depart, and a second tractor-drawn billet wagon to be positioned alongside the harvester to receive the harvested crop. The full billet wagon is transported to a larger capacity trailer truck and the crop is transferred from the billet wagon to the trailer truck. The billet wagon then travels to a location where it is ready to position itself to receive billets from one of the working harvesters in the field.
The trailer truck either remains at its location to receive additional crop from other billet wagons, or it may travel to another location to receive additional crop from billet wagons in the same field, or in a different field. When the trailer truck reaches a desired capacity, it is transported to a larger storage or processing area, such as a sugarcane mill. After unloading the crop, the trailer truck travels to its previous location, or to a new location, to receive additional crop loads from the billet wagons.
Some operations of this type have a field manager that coordinates the vehicle logistics. The field manager attempts to maintain communication with the sugarcane mill, the cane harvesters, and all of the various transferring vehicle operators to determine current vehicle locations, vehicle status and resource needs. Transfer vehicles, such as billet wagons and trailer trucks, are directed to locations based upon actual or anticipated harvester locations. Additionally, the field manager attempts to use as few vehicles as are necessary, with minimal operator downtime.
The field manager thus considers a great deal of logistical information in order to properly coordinate the resources of the operation. The field manager's task is often further complicated because some factors (such as machine capabilities, geographical terrain and mill demand) may mean that the field manager must use multiple different communication systems to coordinate the operational activities.
The operations are often on-going for relatively long periods of time at relatively high volumes. For instance, sugarcane harvest may last for approximately 200 days (as an example) and process cane at a rate of 7500 tons of sugarcane per day for a typical mill.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.